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Talent Heavy Field Ready To Play On Big Stage …

It’s college baseball’s top event, so it stands to reason that some of the top players in the country should be on display when the 2011 College World Series starts this Saturday in Omaha. However, the wealth of talent seems like it’s bursting at the seams for the first CWS at TD Ameritrade Park.

How much talent? Consider this – the SEC, ACC, Big 12, and Pac-10 are the only conferences represented at the CWS this year. Each of those conferences present a Player of the Year, Pitcher of the Year and Freshman of the Year award every year. Of the possible 12 such honorees from the conferences, nine will be playing in Omaha this weekend.

Add to that the fact that 13 CWS players received NCBWA All-America recognition this week, two players were first-round picks in the 2011 MLB Draft.

Danny Hultzen

Virginia pitcher Danny Hultzen is more than just your everyday pitcher. He’s also been one of the top two-way players in the country in his three years. This is his second go-round at the CWS, after helping the Cavs advance to Omaha as a freshman. Hulzten is an All-American and the ACC Pitcher of the Year in 2011. The Seattle Mariners made Hultzen (12-3, 1.49 ERA, .320 BA) the second overall pick in last week’s draft. His 151 strikeouts rank second in the nation. He’ll be on the mound when Virginia faces Cal in Sunday’s 2 p.m. ET game.

Hultzen’s teammate, Will Roberts, has emerged as a top pitcher in his own right. Roberts (11-1, 1.58 ERA) started the season pitching in midweek games, but he moved into the weekend rotation not long after firing a perfect game against George Washington on March 29. It’s just the eighth Division I  nine-inning perfect game since 1957. CLICK HERE to listen to a podcast interview CB360 recorded right after that start. Roberts also was named an NCBWA second team All-American this week.

Taylor Jungmann

Like Hultzen, Texas pitcher Taylor Jungmann was pitching on the big stage in Omaha two years ago. Also like Hultzen, Jungmann (13-2, 1.38 ERA) was a high first-round draft pick last week when the Milwaukee Brewers nabbed him with the 12th overall selection. Jungmann made his mark at the CWS in 2009, going 3-0 with a complete game and 15 strikeouts in 15.1 innings to help the Longhorns reach the title series. The 2011 Big 12 Pitcher of the Year will be on the hill Saturday night looking to snap his personal two-game NCAA Tournament losing streak when Texas faces Florida. The three-time All-American lost in this year’s Austin Regional to Kent State and he fell to Arizona State in the Super Regional – for his only setbacks of the year.

While Jungmann and Texas are no strangers to Omaha, two significant Longhorns will make their Omaha debuts this weekend. Big 12 Freshman of the Year Erich Weiss and NCBWA First Team All-American Corey Knebel have figured prominently into their team’s success this season. Weiss leads the Longhorns in batting average (.358), RBIs (44), slugging percentage (.532), and on-base percentage (.495). The lanky 6-foot-3 third baseman is one of three Longhorns to start all 66 games this season. While Weiss is the Big 12 Freshman of the Year, Knebel is the NCBWA’s National Freshman of the Year. The closer has 19 saves with a sparkling 1.15 ERA in 37 appearances. He earned his most-recent pair of saves with a total of 3.0 shutout innings in the Super Regional wins over the Sun Devils.

Tyler Naquin

Texas A&M Big 12 Player of the Year Tyler Naquin gives the conference three top award winners at this year’s CWS. His .390 average and .460 OBP fit the bill for a leadoff batter, and the third team NCBWA All-American also leads the Aggies with his .556 slugging percentage, which is helped by 23 doubles and a whopping seven triples. While the big-armed right fielder has only six stolen bases, centerfielder Krey Bratsen has totaled 31 swipes along with a .335 avg. to help him earn Freshman All-America honors. Aggie pitchers Michael Wacha (8-3, 2.10 ERA) and Ross Stripling (14-2, 2.29 ERA, 4 CG, 4 SVs) are the real deal too.

Finding just one or two Vanderbilt players to highlight is hard to do, because the Commodore roster is brimming with top talent. Consider the fact that while Sonny Gray (12-3, 1.97 ERA) was tabbed by the Oakland A’s with the 18th overall pick in the MLB Draft, fellow junior Grayson Garvin (13-1, 2.36 ERA)  was named the SEC Pitcher of the Year and is a second team All-American – not to mention being the 59th overall pick by Tampa Bay. The starting duo has the luxury of turning things over to NCBWA third team All-America closer Navery Moore (1.21 ERA, 11 SVs). Vandy also boasts SEC Freshman of the Year Tony Kemp (.325 BA, 16 SB, 56 Runs). The Commodores set an SEC record with 12 players selected in the 2011 draft. In addition to Gray, Garvin and Moore, Jason Esposito, Jack Armstrong, Aaron Westlake, Corey Williams, Taylor Hill, Mark Lamm, Curt Casali, Will Clinard, and Joe Loftus all had their names called during the three-day draft.

Colin Moran

North Carolina has a top duo that combines youth and veteran presence. ACC Freshman of the Year Colin Moran leads the Tar Heels in nearly every offensive category, including batting average (.335), RBIs (69), HR (9), slg.% (.551), and OBP (.443). His RBIs rank 14th in the nation and are the most of any player at the 2011 CWS. Moran’s older brother Brian was an All-American at UNC. Their uncle, B.J. Surhoff, played for 19 years in the Major Leagues after a great career at North Carolina. Like Moran, junior Levi Michael (.300, 5 HR, 48 RBIs) jumped into the middle of the Tar Heel order as a freshman. Michael was selected with the 30th overall pick to the Minnesota Twins last week.

Jackie Bradley, Jr.

South Carolina is back to defend its national championship, but its reigning CWS Most Outstanding Player, Jackie Bradley, Jr., has been out of action since injuring his wrist back on April 23. Despite the injury, Bradley still was tabbed with the 40th overall pick last week by the Boston Red Sox. He said this week that he hopes to contribute in some way for his team in Omaha. Michael Roth made only two 2010 starts for the Gamecocks, but they both were in Omaha. The first was a complete-game win over archrival Clemson to help SC reach the CWS Finals, and the second came four days later against UCLA in the Finals. Roth (13-2, 1.02 ERA) has been South Carolina’s ace this year. He and veteran closer Matt Price (5-3, 2.16 ERA, 18 SVs) recently were named NCBWA second team All-Americans. The Gamecocks return several other everyday players from the 2010 championship team, including team triple-crown leader Christian Walker (.359 BA, 10 HR, 60 RBIs), who is only a sophomore.

Catcher Mike Zunino on a play at the 2010 CWS.

SEC Player of the Year Mike Zunino (.376, 18 HR, 66 RBIs) leads Florida back to Omaha for a second straight year. The iron-man catcher boasts a gaudy .686 slugging percentage that ranks 15th in the nation and is the best of any player in the College World Series field. Zunino is an NCBWS second team All-American who is one of only two Gators (Preston Tucker-.314 BA, 14 HR, 68 RBIs) to play in all 67 of his team’s games in 2011. Sophomore Brian Johnson (.312 BA, 5 HR, 27 RBIs – 8-3, 3.66 ERA) joins Virginia’s Hultzen as another top two-way player – but Johnson has yet to play since May 28, when he was injured at the SEC Tournament after a fluke play saw him hit by a throw from home plate to second base. Freshman pitcher Karsten Whitsen (8-0, 2.45 ERA)  joins the likes of 2010 CWS pitcher Gerrit Cole of UCLA and TCU’s Matt Purke to turn down first-round MLB Draft money in order to play college baseball. Whitsen was the ninth overall pick by San Diego in the 2010 draft. The decision to go to college worked out for Cole, who later became the number-one overall pick in the 2011 draft.

Justin Jones

California doesn’t have one or two players with eye-popping numbers to watch like the rest of the teams in the field. With six straight NCAA Tourney wins, the Golden Bears are the only non No. 1 regional seed that advanced to Omaha this year. What they do have though is “mojo” and a group of players who have refused to see their season, let alone program, end. Tony Renda (.335, 3 HR, 42 RBIs) is the Pac-10 Player of the Year. He is one of four Cal players to start all 58 games this season. Roommate Chadd Krist (.304, 2 HR, 43 RBIs) joins Renda with the superstition of eating an apple before every game. Sophomore pitcher Justin Jones (9-6, 2.93 ERA) could be the Cal player to watch for a multitude of reasons. First, the lefty has a head of shaggy hair that would make Foo Fighters front man Dave Grohl jealous. Second, he wore a sling in the dugout in the Super Regional clincher after holding his arm midway through his game-one start. And finally (and probably most importantly), the fact that Jones is even still at Cal is a story in itself. The 2010 Freshman All-American thought about transferring when Cal announced it was eliminating the baseball program on Sept. 28, 2010. However, his decision to stay, along with the performances of fellow starter Erik Johnson (7-4, 2.91 ERA, 100 Ks) and the rest of his teammates, have helped propel the Golden Bears to a place they haven’t been in nearly 20 years (in Omaha for the CWS).

These are just some of the top players we’ll see over the next couple of weeks. One of the best things about the College World Series is the players who will burst out of the shadows to become stars with the flick of a bat, the twirl of a seam and the blink of an eye. Don’t believe me? Just ask Michael Roth!

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The college baseball season continues to gain momentum as well swing into week four. This week’s Notebook combines some of the observations of College Baseball 360 Editor Sean Stires with the observations and insights of CB360 contributor Jack Blanchat.

Bryan Peters had both of Nebraska's game-winning hits over UCLA.

weekend in Lincoln. All three games went to extra innings. How rare is that? Nebraska has been playing baseball since 1889, but prior to Friday and Saturday it had never had extra inning games in back-to-back days go to extra frames. Gerrit Cole lost a perfect game after retiring Nebraska’s first 20 batters Friday, but still helped the Bruins win 1-0 in 11 innings thanks to nine shutout innings.

With Trevor Bauer on the mound, Nebraska’s hopes for a win weren’t looking any better on Saturday. Bauer fanned 17 in 10 innings, but settled for a 129 pitch no-decision in the Cornhusker’s 2-1 win. Bryan Peters had the game-winning hit in the bottom of the 12th for Nebraska, while Dylan Vogt pitched five no-hit innings of relief to earn the win.

The Cornhuskers then plated three runs in the bottom of the 9th inning in Sunday’s series finale and eventually won 5-4 in 11 innings. Peters was the hero again, belting a game-ending home run to give Nebraska back-to-back walk-off wins for the first time in eight years.

Nebraska is 8-4 with a team batting average of .303. UCLA is 7-4, despite a 1.55 team ERA with 126 strikeouts and 42 walks in 104 1/3 IP.

Gator Bait…

Florida (10-1) suffered its first loss of the season to Florida State in the Florida Four event last week, but the Gators came back strong over the weekend with a three-game sweep of Miami in Gainesville. Florida’s starting rotation of Brian Johnson, Hudson Randall and Karsten Whitson combined to allow just two earned runs in 17.0 innings during the series. It’s just the second time in school history that Florida has swept a three-game set from the Hurricanes.

Surprise, Surprise, Surprise…

Cal State Bakersfield's Jonathon Montoya

Don’t look now, but Cal State Bakersfield is on a run. The Roadrunners have won 10 straight with the help of some great pitching. Bakersfield, playing its first games away from home this season, gave up just two runs while going 4-0 at the Coca Cola Classic over the weekend in Surprise, AZ. The biggest of the wins was a 2-1 10-inning victory over Arizona State. Freshman Cael Brockmeyer’s 10th inning home run off ASU All-American Mitchell Lambson was the difference. The Roadrunners also turned-in wins over Kansas (12-0), Air Force (5-0) and Northern Illinois (6-1). Bakersfield starting pitchers Tommy Hoenshell, Mike McCarthy, Jonathon Montoya, and Brandon Van Dam combined to pitch 35 innings, while giving-up just two runs. McCarthy was the only one not to pitch 9.0 innings.

Sycamore No-No…

Indiana State’s Jason Van Skike tossed a no-hitter in Saturday’s 8-0 win over Central Arkansas. It’s the school’s 10th all-time no-hitter, but the first nine inning no-no for a Sycamore since 1943. Van Skike needed 143 pitches to complete the gem, which still had its share of base runners. Van Skike struckout five, but he walked eight batters and hit one more.

TCU’s Aces…

When talking about TCU pitchers, 2010 freshman phenom Matt Purke is typically the first name to come to mind. However, Kyle Winkler has been lights out so far this year for the Horned Frogs. Winkler (3-0) has allowed just two unearned runs in 22 1/3 IP so far this season. The senior has 19 strikeouts and just one walk with a .149 opponent batting average. He moved to the Friday spot in the rotation the last two weeks while Purke battled a blister on his pitching hand.

Purke has pitched 10.0 shutout innings himself this season (he pitched against Kansas on opening weekend and pitched Sunday against Texas Tech) to improve to 2-0 this year and 18-0 in his career. Meanwhile, freshman Andrew Mitchell has surrendered just a run in his first 15 2/3 IP, including a Sunday start against Cal State Fullerton last week when Purke missed his start.

The Horned Frogs’ bullpen is still a work in progress though. TCU’s opponents have scored winning runs in the 8th inning or later in all four of the team’s losses this year.

Kyle Robinson

Razorback Off & Running…

Arkansas senior Kyle Robinson played sparingly in his first year at Arkansas last year after transferring from Indian River CC. Injuries played a part in his limited time, but Robinson is making-up for it this year. He hit .474 (9-for-19) with three home runs and 13 RBIs last week. The outfielder’s .465 batting average is the third best in the SEC through the first three weeks of 2011. He also ranks in the top five in the conference in slugging percentage (#3 – .791), runs (#5 – 14), hits (T-#1 – 20), and RBI (#1 – 21).

Quality Pitching…

Notre Dame is just 4-6 through Mik Aoki’s first ten games at the helm, but it’s not for a lack of pitching. Starting pitchers Brian Dupra, Cole Johnson and Todd Miller combined to give the Irish nine straight quality starts (at least 6.0 IP and 3 ER or less) to open the season. The last time a Notre Dame staff had just six straight quality starts was 2001, when 2000 and 2001 first round draft pick Aaron Heilman helped the program achieve its first ever #1 national ranking. Dupra, Johnson and Miller combined for 22 2/3 IP with 21 strikeouts and no walks in their three starts last weekend, but went 0-2 with a no-decision (the Irish beat Manhattan in extra innings in Miller’s start).

Duke-ing It Out…

James Madison is off to a record-setting start in 2011. The Duke’s 11-1 start is the best in program history. JMU leads the nation with 30 home runs and 13.3 runs-a-game through the season’s first three weeks.

Stanford @ Texas…

Now we’ll turn things over to Jack Blanchat, who was at the Stanford vs. Texas series in Austin. The Longhorns took two out of three games in the series. Blanchat’s insights start with thoughts on Texas ace Taylor Jungman, who saw his run of 22.0 scoreless innings to open the season come to a close in Friday’s 4-3 Texas win.

Taylor Jungmann

Taylor Jungmann is the real deal – it doesn’t get much simpler than that. He’s confident, aggressive, and he mixes up his pitches and gets outs in every way. His odd delivery makes it hard to pick up the baseball coming out of his hand, and he gets results. It shows something that Friday night was his worst outing of the season so far, considering he pitched eight and two-thirds innings and only gave up three runs on six hits. Even more impressive about those six hits was that nobody got multiple hits off Jungmann – and nothing was hit particularly hard other than a triple from Brian Ragira that broke up Jungmann’s perfect game in the fifth inning.

The environment at Disch-Falk Field was like an NCAA super regional – absolutely crazy, and jam-packed. It’s one of the biggest stadiums in college baseball in terms of capacity and playing dimensions. The stadium also has field turf instead of a natural grass playing surface, so that made conditions a little harder because the baseball would occasionally act very strangely after it bounced off the turf. The playing conditions, which included wind coming in from left field most of the time, resulted in no home runs for a Stanford team that had six dingers in eight games coming into this series, but it also contributed to the three triples in the series as well.

Texas trotted out a few new faces in their lineup, and they all had a few bright spots, but they still looked very much like freshmen. Jacob Felts did a nice job behind the plate, catching Jungmann’s Friday win(although, the way Jungmann is pitching, it’s hard not to do a good job behind the plate), and he went 2-for-7 and scored a run offensively – altogether not a bad weekend for a freshman catcher. Freshman rightfielder Mark Payton went just 1-for-10 at the plate, but he still scored a run and had two RBI in the series thanks to some erratic Stanford pitching. Finally, freshman third baseman Erich Weiss was solid on offense – he had a hit in every game – but he struggled defensively in Saturday’s contest. He had two errors at the hot corner, and could have been docked for one more if the scorekeeper had been less friendly.

Dean McArdle

Stanford’s pitching rotation is shaping up pretty well – now the offense just has to go out and get Mark Appel a win on Friday night. The sophomore has had tremendous stuff in all three of his starts this season, but by virtue of going up against Sonny Gray and Taylor Jungmann, Appel’s record sits at 0-2 so far. It’s easy to believe that Appel will get back in the win column as the season goes along, but he has shown he can be a primetime player on Friday nights – something the Cardinal will need if they want to overtake UCLA and Gerrit Cole in the Pac-10 down the road.

Dean McArdle pitched very well Saturday (in a 9-2 win) – he’s a bulldog pitcher who had his control working and now has a 7-0 career record at Stanford. He and Jordan Pries are surprisingly similar pitchers, both
righthanders with great control and a nice array of pitches, even though they don’t have overpowering stuff.

I think at this point in the season Stanford head coach Mark Marquess is just trying to mix up his rotation a little bit and see how guys work in different places. Mark Appel brings the power on Friday night and has almost out-dueled both Sonny Gray and Taylor Jungmann.
The three week “Country Music Swing” – Houston, Nashville, and Austin – has been tough on the Cardinal’s record, but they have been impressive so far. I get the sense that the team is ready for a few days off, and they’ll get it with finals week this week. In the big picture, Stanford won’t face as consistently good pitchers as they’ve faced these last three weeks, and that should help cut down on strikeouts. Stanford struck out 27 times in the series against Texas (Jungmann had nine) and therefore stranded 23 runners. All in all, this three-week test has been good for Stanford, though. They’ll be ready to take on teams in a deep Pac-10 Conference, and they’ll have just as much or more experience against the nation’s top teams when it comes time for the NCAA Tournament.

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Some Of The Lone Star State’s Top Early Performances…

Taylor Jungmann — Junior RHP, Texas Longhorns

Jungmann has already become a household name among college baseball experts in the past two years.  His 6′ 6″ frame and brilliant “stuff” make him already one of the nation’s most-decorated pitchers.  The righty set the tone for the Longhorns on opening day with a shutout on five hits and a walk with nine strikeouts against the Maryland Terrapins.  The shutout was the first of Jungmann’s career, and the first season-opening shutout for a Longhorn pitcher since 1985.

Hoby Milner — Sophomore LHP, Texas Longhorns

Milner could become a surprise player for the Texas pitching staff this season.  He put together a fantastic freshman season going 3-1 in 18 appearances with a 1.97 ERA in 2010.  He’s vying for the third weekend starting spot this year and he made a brilliant case for it in Texas’ fourth game of the season against Maryland by pitching seven shutout innings and allowing just two hits while walking two and striking out 10.  With his win the Longhorns took three of four from Maryland to win the series.

Kyle Winkler — Junior RHP, TCU Horned Frogs

Those not familiar with Winkler should be ashamed.  For those that may not recall, Winkler was the winning pitcher in TCU’s decisive game three of the Super Regionals against Texas last season after his masterful 7 2/3 innings of shutout pitching.  He finished second on the team in wins with 12 and his 3.39 ERA made him one of the best #3 pitchers in the country.  On Saturday, Kyle quickly put his two College World Series losses behind him by striking out eight Kansas hitters over seven innings of one-hit ball while allowing just one unearned run to earn TCU’s second win of the series against the Jayhawks.

John Stilson — Junior RHP, Texas A&M Aggies

Last season’s Big XII Newcomer of the Year took the ball on opening day and in just six innings of work struck out nine LeMoyne hitters.  The Dolphins managed just three hits and a walk against him and scored one unearned run as the Aggies took the opener 3-1 behind the arm of Stilson.  It seemed to foreshadow what LeMoyne was going to see for the weekend.

Michael Wacha — Sophomore RHP, Texas A&M Aggies

Wacha, one of the top freshmen pitchers from the 2010 baseball season, seemed to take good notes from everything Stilson had done the day before and nearly duplicated the effort.  His six shutout innings with seven strikeouts kept the Dolphins frustrated while the Texas A&M offense pounded out 10 runs of support to back him up.

Ross Hales — Sophomore LHP, Texas A&M Aggies

After missing almost the entire 2010 season due to injury, Hales toed the rubber in game three for the Aggies and pitched as if he hadn’t missed a beat.  His gem in game three clinched an opening weekend sweep for the Aggies and was arguably the best start of the weekend for Texas A&M.  Like his predecessors, Hales pitched six shutout innings but allowed just two hits and walked two while striking out five.

Robbie Kilcrease — Junior (RS) LHP, Texas Tech Red Raiders

Robbie was another pitcher to miss the 2010 season due to injury.  Based on Saturday’s performance, Kilcrease may be bouncing back stronger than he was before the injury.  In game two of the Red Raider Classic against Northwestern, he went seven innings while allowing just one earned run on four hits and no walks with four strikeouts.

Jamen Parten — Sophomore RHP, Texas Tech Red Raiders

Jamen is a newcomer to the Red Raider pitching staff after transferring this past fall from North Central Texas College, where he won four games with a 4.35 ERA.  Parten made his Texas Tech debut nicely by going five innings and allowing only one earned run on four hits and striking out four.  Tech fans should be intrigued to see what else Jamen has to offer this season.

Codey Morehouse — Junior RHP, Houston Cougars

Believe it or not, Morehouse did more damage with his bat in 2010 than he did on the mound.  That wasn’t the case though on Friday as Codey put together a masterpiece of an outing in seven innings of work with just one earned run allowed on four hits with six strikeouts against The University of Texas-Arlington.

Jordan Lewis — Junior LHP, Houston Cougars

Jordan transferred to the Cougars this past fall from Western Nevada College, which finished 2009 third at the NJCAA World Series during his freshman season.  He played a major role on that team and was one of the most highly-decorated pitchers in the NJCAA by the end of the year.  He looked that good against the UT-Arlington Mavericks on Saturday by pitching seven shutout innings while surrendering just five hits and a walk while striking out two.  Jordan will be worth keeping an eye on in 2011 as he faces even more fierce competition.

Matthew Reckling — Junior RHP, Rice Owls

Rice head coach Wayne Graham speaks very highly of Reckling and went so far as to say, “Matthew is one of the players who made a big jump in the fall, throwing harder and with better control. He should be an impact pitcher this spring.”  He made an immediate impact in game two for the Owls against Stanford when he pitched six innings of shutout ball on four hits with no walks and two strikeouts.  If coach Graham is right, the best is yet to come for Reckling.

In total, these 11 pitchers put up phenomenal combined numbers on the weekend.  With a combined record of 11-0, these Texas hurlers posted an earned run average of 0.37 in 73 innings, striking out 8.14 hitters per nine innings with a combined WHIP of 0.63 while issuing just seven walks.  But while the pitchers seemed to highlight the weekend, there were also some hitters that fired big shots of their own.  These guys made statements at the plate.

Matt Juengel — Junior DH, Texas A&M Aggies

Matt had a strong post-season in 2010 at the Coral Gables Regional with two home runs and eight runs batted in.  Juengel kept the momentum going this weekend against LeMoyne as he went five for eleven with two home runs, two triples, seven runs batted in, a walk and five runs scored.

Kelby Tomlinson — Junior SS, Texas Tech Red Raiders

Tomlinson transferred to the Red Raiders this past fall from Seward County Community College where he scored a school-record 90 runs in 2010 while batting .328 during his two seasons there.  During his first weekend as a Red Raider, Kelby went seven for twelve with six runs batted in, three runs scored and five walks at the Red Raider Classic.

Austin Elkins — Sophomore 3B/2B, Dallas Baptist University

Austin is always a good name for a kid in Texas, but this weekend it also proved to be a good name on the diamond.  Elkins demonstrated the ultimate example of “all or nothing” as DBU swept Indiana State to open the season.  Despite just four hits in 13 at bats, three of Austin’s four hits were home runs.  Even more amazingly, two of them were grand slams that came in back-to-back games and the third was a solo home run.  He finished the weekend with nine runs batted in, two walks and seven runs scored.
Despite these power surges from the weekend, there was one player that made a dramatic appearance and is this week’s Texas player of the week without putting one over the fence.

Erich Weiss — Freshman 3B, Texas Longhorns

This freshman jumped right into the UT lineup as if he’d been born with a bat in his hands, getting hits in nine of his eleven at bats with two triples, a double, seven runs batted in and six runs scored.  When he wasn’t making contact, he was reaching via the walk.  Weiss finished the weekend with a jaw-dropping OPS of 2.097.  That might be one of the best debut weekends all-time, if anyone can even know that.

Chase Jensen — Sophomore SS, Houston Cougars

Jensen is yet another transfer student that starred this weekend.  He transferred to the Cougars from Weatherford College following a second team All-Conference selection.  He introduced himself to Houston fans by hitting safely nine times in 15 at bats with a home run, two doubles, five runs batted in and four runs scored.

Austin Gracey — Junior 3B, Houston Cougars

After a productive 2010, Austin made sure to get things going early for the second straight year.  Gracey belted two home runs while going eight for 14 with seven runs batted in and five runs scored.

As far as the teams in Texas, here are some key week two series taking place with teams from the nation’s 28th state:

Texas @ Hawaii — Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Texas Tech vs. BYU — Thursday, Friday (as part of the Brooks Wallace Memorial Classic in Lubbock, TX)

TCU vs. Cal St. Fullerton — Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Houston vs. Mississippi — Friday, Saturday, Sunday

Rice vs. USC — Friday, Saturday, Sunday